Heavily armed Maine man arrested, says attended "Batman" with gun

(Reuters) - Maine police arrested a heavily armed man driving on the state turnpike who carried clippings about the cinema massacre in Colorado and claimed he attended the new "Batman" film with a loaded gun, authorities said on Monday.

Timothy Courtois, 49, was driving 112 mph on the Maine Turnpike with an AK-47 assault weapon, four handguns and several boxes of ammunition in his car when state police pulled him over about 10 am on Sunday, said Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland.

He told police that he was headed to Derry, New Hampshire to shoot a former employer, McCausland said in a statement.

Courtois told police he had attended the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight," at a theater in Saco, Maine on Saturday night with a loaded gun in his backpack, he said.

Police found clippings in his car about the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, where 12 people were killed and 58 wounded by a gunman at a Friday showing of "The Dark Knight," he said.

At Courtois' home in Biddeford, Maine, police found several additional guns, including a machine gun, and thousands of rounds of ammunition, he said.

Courtois was slated to appear in court on Monday in Springvale District Court on initial charges of speeding and carrying a concealed weapon, McCausland said.

(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Cynthia Osterman)